In this tutorial (Lesson 12) I will be introducing you to the idea of using the guide tones to help you improvise.
Check out the video and the notes below.
The guide tones are 3 and 7 of whatever chord you are playing. They help the listener to recognise the harmonic movement of the piece of music. The 7th helps us to know whether the chord is a dominant chord or major 7 and the 3rd lets us know if it a minor chord or major. Hence, they are called ‘guide’ tones.
The guide tones are a great place to start in learning how to improvise. To this day, I still rely heavily on knowing where they are. Whenever I’m feeling like I’m in trouble, I anchor what I’m doing with one of the guide tones. Starting and/or finishing a phrase on a guide tone is always a good idea too. These 2 5 1 licks are a really great example of that.
Practice
Pick a song and learn all the guide tones and try swapping from 3 to 7 as appropriate to make a melody. Start on the 3rd and go from there. Then try again starting on the 7th.
Lastly, try and use the guides tones to improvise by adding in a few extra notes along the way. Have fun!